Chapter Text
The album release, hours of promo, rehearsals, sound checks, performing almost every night and sleeping in a cramped bunk that seems more and more like a coffin each night as he lies awake has Michael more than a little stressed out and moody. He’s not trying to be a brat but he is: snapping at everyone for no reason, pouting when he zones out long enough for his food to reach an undesired temperature, withholding Luke’s kisses and snuggles because he went for lunch with Calum and not Mikey (the fact that he was sleeping the whole time does not matter).
Mikey is being a pain and Luke is more than fed up with it. The penguin lover had tried his coffee trick, naps and snuggles, sex and even a massage and none of them have worked. Luke knew something was seriously wrong when sex didn’t fix it but the fact that nothing has, is getting on his nerves and frustrating him. Mikey’s tantrums keep getting worse and more frequent and Luke has no idea how to fix them.
Deciding just to kill his boyfriend with kindness before someone literally kills Michael, Luke turns on his charm and steps up the sweetness. He brings Mikey coffee the next morning when he has to wake him up, trying not to be annoyed that Ashton forbade them from sharing a room for the third hotel night in a row. He smiles at Calum when he opens the hotel door and excuses himself form the room claiming to want breakfast.
He carefully removes the lid off the to-go cup and sets it on the night-stand, being cautious not to spill any of the hot liquid on his boy. Luke starts to waft the steam off the hot drink towards Mikey’s face so he can smell it and begin to wake up. He stirs a bit, much to Luke’s delight. Placing the cup down beside its discarded lid, Luke slowly straddles Mikey’s thin hips and leans down towards his face, “good morning baby,” he coos gently, fingers brushing over the sleepy boys hip bones and placing quick sweet kisses on the side of his face, neck and shoulder.
Mikey smiles and the pet name and rolls over so he’s flat on his back, his arms bent at the elbows and hands curled on either side of his head as he looks up at Luke. He doesn’t say anything, just looks up at Luke with whimsy dancing in his eyes and a sleep soft smile on his lips. Luke shifts on top pf Michael and brings his hands from the boys’ hips to his soft tummy and begins rubbing slow circles. “You need to get up babe,” he says gently, biting back a smile at the pout Michael pulls. Luke shakes his head, not giving into the sleep-soft boy beneath him even when he widens his bright glassy green eyes some more. He leans down, moving his hands to either side of Mikey’s head to brace his weight and kisses him, when Michael starts to grip the hairs at the base of Luke’s neck he slowly sits up, forcing Mikey to choose between his lips or laying down. Lips win.
Luke kisses the boy beneath him once more before quickly pulling away and jumps off the bed. Michael whines at this and crosses his arms, pouting once again. Luke bites back the ‘aww’ he was about to let slip, tosses some clothes at Michael and walks towards the door, “me and my lips will be in the hallway, if you do not join us within 5 minutes, Ash and Cal will force you out and that won’t get you kisses,” he smiles at the bed-headed boy and closes the heavy door behind him.
Ashton and Calum find them engaged in a vigorous game of tonsil hockey a few minutes later. In the van Calum’s about to ask if Michaels shirt and pants were unbuttoned before he left the room, but decides he’d rather not know.
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Over the next few weeks Luke starts to notice some changes in his boy. He’s always liked cutesy pet names (even though he’ll deny it if confronted) but now he preens under the attention. At first Luke thought it was all pet names but when he took more consideration in choosing what names he’d use, he found that: baby, kitten, cuddlebug had more of an effect on the boy than: bae, honey, lover.
He’s also been carrying around that stuffed lion a lot more. As soon as their back from the studio, Michael is curled up on the couch with Daniel perched on his chest and a Disney movie on TV.
Noting the unusual behaviour but not thinking much of it, Luke goes on like normal for a while. Trying to make Michael more enjoyable for both his sake and the band’s, he keep up the coffee and tries playing his favourite songs in the car, letting him sleep in Luke’s favourite sweater and ordering milkshakes for breakfast from room service. It keeps him placated but he still has many tantrum-like bouts of frustration.
The latest tantrum is caused by messing up a chord progression on a new song their learning for tour. After the third time of not getting it right he starts pulling at his bright red hair and breathing heavily. Calum and Ashton are frozen, not knowing what to do so like the good friends they are they walk off stage and let Luke take care of the distressed boy. He walks over after putting his own guitar down and gently pries Michael’s hands from his hair and slings the strap of his guitar over his head before placing the instrument down a few feet from them. He bundles the older boy in his broad frame and Michael melts into him. Luke can feel his boys lip tremble just before the tears start streaming. Michael starts babbling and Luke can’t actually hear what he’s saying since it’s muffled in his shirt but he starts rubbing up and down Michaels back like his mother used to do to him and humming in his ear to calm him down. He helps the crying boy sit down and pulls him into his lap, still humming to him. As the tears retreat, Michael starts to relax and drift off. By the time the other two boys return with drinks for the two they left behind, Michaels asleep and clutching the fabric of Luke’s shirt as if he’s afraid he’ll leave him.